Robotnik's Revenge
by Disjointed Silhouette
Summary: A sinister plot by Robotnik plans to shatter the Freedom Fighters into disarray and strike back from the weakened position they have given him. Can the Fighters recover before all is lost? A rewrite of a previous version.


**A/N**: This, as you can see, is a total rewrite of my very first fanfiction that I have ever written, "Robotnik's Revenge". Despite the fact that the reviews for the first few chapters were very positive (especially Sage of Darkness'), I still do not really feel content about it. In fact, I nearly hemorrhaged when I read them just now. The plot of that has twisted and turned so much, with many details left missing in between, that I don't think I can flatten out its creases completely in a few more chapters. So I hope to start anew, and write this with careful planning that the writing process of the previous one lacks. Enjoy, and voice out your opinions about this story through reviews if you can. Comparisons would be nice too.

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**Prologue**

The first sign of the blue hedgehog came in the form of a faint smoke trail, fast growing at the horizon, coming in parallel to Tails' line of sight, amongst the flat, barren grey landscape that spread out before him. There was no question about that, Sonic had finally found him, and was coming to save him.

And Tails would have been happy. It would have been such a joyful occasion, to meet up with his hero again after such a long duration of time. It would have been Tails' first wish, especially just after being tortured repeatedly by Robotnik, regarding the location of Knothole. Tails would have been running towards Sonic right now, wanting to feel his warm embrace, hear his cool, collected voice, and talk about how much he had missed him. Perhaps he would even 'boast' about how he had never given in to ol' Buttnik, and how he had never lost faith in being able to get out of Robotropolis.

Maybe Sonic would have given him a well-deserved pat on his back… And they would have gone off back to Knothole, where he could see Aunt Sally, Bunnie, and all the others again, and feel warmth long forgotten.

But now, the situation now was far more dire than that…

_Priority one hedgehog detected… Battle program initiated._

For he was now in a robot's shell. And like other robots of Robotropolis, they had one primary goal, which retained a higher priority than everything else. Something that had been programmed into their memory chips since day one.

Kill Sonic.

"Don't come any closer, Sonic! It's all a trap!"

But no voice left his mouth. The hedgehog continued to run towards him, and towards death.

_45 seconds to impact…_

And it was here where Tails experienced first-hand, the horrifying aspects of control, one of which was the inability to move or do anything; it was as if his soul was separated from his own body. He wanted his legs to move. He wanted to wave his hands, to shake his head, to twitch a finger, _anything. _Even the slightest gesture, to stop him from coming here, would do.

But no mercy was shown. The cold hard metal prevented Tails from even doing so much as to shift his gaze away from the action. He was like an audience to a show he did not want to watch; the blue hero's death. The death of all his hopes and dreams. The feeling he felt was unbearable; it was painful, it was crushing,

it was simply harrowing.

It was like seeing glass right in front of him shatter into a million pieces.

_38 seconds to impact…_

Fear came crashing down like a waterfall as he felt hands that were no longer his slowly motion towards his back, gripping the hilt of the electric dagger. A swift action unsheathed it, causing a buzzing sound to be emitted from the knife itself. The buzzing was, in truth, nothing more than a quiet one, but to Tails, it was as loud as a thunderclap in the clear blue sky. For this would be the means which by the world would come crashing down on him; for this was one less chance for some spontaneous miracle to happen. Lastly, but most significantly, it would be the weapon that the robot, no, _he_ would use to stab Sonic.

Himself. Not anyone else but himself.

Best friends forever.

Then, it hit him.

_34 seconds_.

For a moment, Tails' mind went completely blank. It was an obvious and a simple fact that he had known, even before he saw Sonic running towards him, but he had always kept it at the back of his mind. All this time, he never realized the significance of it; the awful significance of it, until now.

The impact it made was tremendous.

His greatest idol dying, in front of his very eyes, was one thing, but to be forced to actually grab the hammer…

_29 seconds._

and to shatter the glass himself was… just plain sadistic.

The physical torture he had gotten in Robotropolis could not compare to the pain Tails felt now. It just seemed too much to bear, to see a person he cared so much about, a person he loved so much, being murdered by his very own self. The action of him, stabbing Sonic in the heart with a quick thrust, replayed itself over and over again in his mind. It was like a revolving wheel of spikes, slashing and shredding Tails with every turn of it, unspeakable pain coursing through his veins.

It was here that Tails experienced another horrifying aspect of control. The inability to let it all the pain out; to scream or to cry; to move or to even whimper; like being trapped in some void, where there was no sound or movement. There was only darkness around him, and the only place where pain could be kept was within…

_23 seconds_

Where it could only grow in intensity and worsen.

There was no release.

Now all Tails wanted to do was to sit down and cry; to be given time to absorb all of this; to prepare himself for what was to come. But even those petty requests were denied to him, for he was still standing, still smiling, and still using his free hand to wave at the blue hedgehog. There was not a trace of the turmoil happening within the two-tailed fox, as if everything seemed fine.

Perfectly natural…

Tails had been reduced to nothing more than mere thoughts, feelings, and impulses.

The desire of wanting to scream as loudly as he can, but not being able to, was a nightmarish feeling that would stay on in his heart forever.

_19 seconds._

"Hey, Tails!"

Compounding to his fear now, was Sonic, who was now close enough for Tails to see the contrast between his cobalt blue skin, and the pale, grey landscape. The fact that Sonic had a grin on his face, although expected, still shocked him to the very core.

That was it.

Sonic was going to die.

And he was going to kill him.

For sure.

Time seemed to freeze, and as thoughts raced through his mind, everything seemed to pass by very slowly…

_16 seconds._

As Tails focused more and more on Sonic, taking notice of every single one of his physical features, he saw pictures and scenes from the past. From the time when Sonic found him, abandoned in the outskirts of the Great Forest, to the time where Tails accompanied Sonic on his first "Freedom Fighter" mission, they all resurfaced from the back of his mind.

And every single one of them was like an arrow pointed towards his heart, about to reach its target. Because very, very soon, the key person in those memories will die, and so will the happiness and joy that came with it. Sonic was the person who meant a lot to him; meant so much to him, and to see him disappear like that was…

Like the world crashing down on him.

_13 seconds._

The blue hedgehog did a magnificent skid beside Tails, resulting in black marks being formed on the grey ground and some smoke being given off. The robot turned his body to face him. And Sonic, as he smiled, looked so close… so close to death.

He felt that intense urge to scream again regurgitate up his throat.

And to his surprise, his mouth did open this time, but not to utter the words he wanted to say…

"Am I glad to see you, Sonic!"

Another spear drove into his heart, jerking up tears and blood.

The voice sounded… as if it was genuine. As if the speaker was truly cheerful, truly happy to see a friend not seen for so long in a barren landscape. It sounded pure and innocent, slightly weak and yet gentle, like that of a lost child in a desert, like what Tails would really say if Robotnik had not wreaked his wrath on him.

And before Tails could feel shock or to recover, he felt… his face contort. It was horrifying, as he felt the whirring of small intricate motors in his jaws, causing his mouth to arch into a smile. There was no truth in that expression, but robots never had a guilty conscience. Precise instruments ensured that it was the same as a genuine one.

And a smile was all it took…, to lower someone's guard, and make him vulnerable to attack…

What little hope Tails had left evaporated into vapor, and the urge to break down into tears was strongest at this moment. He started to try and brace himself for the worst that was to happen in the remaining seconds, as he peered from the bird cage that enclosed him, into the cruel scenario that was to happen.

Was it possible to salvage broken glass?

_8 seconds_

The last memory of Sonic Tails would have for a long time, would be the image of Sonic, walking towards him with an air of cheerfulness and relief, fooled completely by the façade put up by the metal ghost that possessed him. He would remember trying to scream again, and trying his utmost to go against the system, to fight against it, to yell at Sonic yet again, all which went in futility, as Sonic walked towards him, step-by-step, closer and closer each second.

_6 seconds_

And now, Tails could practically feel, amidst the flurry of thoughts that engulfed him, the blood on his hands, as he felt his robotic hand grip the hilt even more tightly, poised to strike at that moment of opportunity, like a scorpion's tail. It was he who was going to deliver the finishing blow to the Freedom Fighters, to destroy the very hand that fed him. It was he who was going to kill the very people that had cared for him, that had sheltered him when he was vulnerable, that had comforted him with bed-time stories and a warm glowing light, when thunder struck.

All the above would occur, directly or indirectly, as a consequence of his existence. Even if it was the robot that was doing all of this, Tails could not help but to feel responsible, for all that would happen. There was no use in blindly hoping any more. Sonic would fall to his blade. And the others would follow not long after… And soon, Knothole would be in flames… Thoughts spread like wildfire, into unpredictable and arbitrary directions. And the more he visualized them, the more he saw his own shadow as a foreground to all of them.

After all, Sonic was the centerpiece of the resistance movement against Robotnik, the most important thing that could hold everything together. A centerpiece that, when taken away, would cause the whole contraption to fall apart…

Like a house of cards.

He awaited his fate.

_3 seconds_

The monster that was inside of him, the presence that threatened to take everything away, was about to strike. This was where the climax would happen. This would be the time where Robotnik's promises of death would echo in his ears, like a swan song that would never end…

"Let this be the punishment for your insolence, my young little friend. You are going to be a pioneer subject in a new field of Robotocization, Tails, in an attempt to preserve your outer features during the process... And if it is successful, you can roughly expect what will happen to your irritating friends, once I make use of you…"

"Who _knows, _Tails… I could use you as an assassin, programmed to hunt down and annihilate the people you once knew; that you once loved and cared for, using your synthetic fur to deceive them. I could use you as a tracer, and deliberately let the freedom fighters find you, in which case, anything that poses even a minor threat to me will be gone in a matter of minutes. The possibilities are endless…"

Tails felt a shiver go down his spine…, as he started to remember what ought not to be remembered…

_2 seconds_

"So, uh… Tails, you cool?"

Tails felt despair, looming over him, as he saw Sonic go close and closer, to the extent that he was within reach of his arm.

"Yeah…, cool as always, Sonic!"

The fake enthusiasm, again, shocked Tails to the very core. He then began to wonder, as the time grew nearer and nearer, what he would have said to Sonic if… well…, he was still he.

He would have talked about how he was threatened and tortured, with methods that transcended physical and mental boundaries.

He would have recounted about how Robotnik tried all ways to break him, to get him to reveal the location of Knothole and all other Freedom Fighter secrets, and how he, in the face of all of this, stood firm against the onslaught of electric shocks and laser rifles.

He would have looked up to Sonic with glittering eyes, full of tears which were not of sadness, but of unspeakable joy and relief, and would have said to him that… his smile, his actions, his friendship,

_1 second to impact_

were the very images that he kept in his mind during those dark times, the only things keeping him from breaking down with tears and losing his resolve to live. Not only were they evidence of the bright past; they were also signs of a better future, where all troubles would pass out and fade away like a forgotten nightmare…

A future where Robotnik would be defeated, and Sonic would stay forever and ever…

Like a shining star that would never burn out…

"Ok, Tails. It's time to get back to Knothole. Come on, let's juice out of here and…"

An electrical impulse broke that illusion swiftly, and Tails could feel, even before anything had happened, that the ideal Sonic he had always embraced fade away like desert sands in desert winds…

In a split second, Tails felt his right arm trust forward straight towards Sonic's back at an extremely quick speed. As he saw his right gloved hand, carrying the electric knife in his hand, and compared it with the image of Sonic, standing proud with his back towards him, he felt everything become surreal and dream-like; he felt everything become impossible… The knife, Sonic, his arm, the blurred image of the grey landscape, suddenly felt as if an unreal quality had been added to them… Disbelief clouded his mind, and caressed his heart in its cradle, providing him a sense of comfort that lasted for a split second…

Sonic isn't going to die. Sonic isn't going to die… He can't die, he's…

But that sense of comfort immediately left him, as he felt blade press against flesh. He heard metal pierce through blood, and saw uncountable streams of blue electricity consuming the blue hedgehog, as they hopped around his body, paralyzing his limbs, severing his nerves… taking his hero apart…

First came the whiteout; all emotion and feeling seemed to fade away from him almost instantly, as he watched the nightmare unfolding before his very eyes. The sight of blood and flesh torn apart; the silent scream of pain in Sonic's face as he fell forward, and the very act itself, were… too much for his mind to contain when they came all at once. It went against the boundaries of what Tails considered to be possible; to see his invincibility wear off just like that, was…

The hedgehog he knew, the hero who could face more than ten SWATbots at a time without breaking a sweat, who could never be fatigued, who would, never, ever, fall down… was…

Dying.

As his mind started to get over the huge initial shock, it started coming into conclusions that he did not want to consider. Conclusions that he did not want to face. But as he saw the hilt of the electric knife being gripped in his hand and the prone position of Sonic, lying on the ground, going into spasms like a helpless fly, they came very quickly.

He killed Sonic.

He was responsible for the destruction of Knothole.

He was responsible for the death of Mobius.

He was guilty; he was a murderer; he was a curse that had befallen the Freedom Fighters from the very day Sonic brought him into Knothole; he was never a help; never a person who actually benefited the Freedom Fighters. He was merely a liability…, reflected by the sacrifices the others had done to save him countless times…

And reflected by the way he repaid those sacrifices…

Tails kneeled down in front of Sonic, breaking into tears. The very memory of the event, of how he killed a person he loved and idolized; the thrust, the stab, the blood; attacked him again and again. There was no respite from all of this; in fact, he knew that there would never ever be a moment when his mind would ever be free from those chains. The nightmare that started today would never end…; in fact, it was only the beginning.

It would haunt him forever, and forever…

The guilt was overbearing.

"I'm sorry…, Sonic…"

Through tearing eyes,

But as his eyes focused on Sonic's body once again, he felt that that observation was premature. He was not free; he was just shifted to another prison. It was a mental one, whose grilles were that of guilt and responsibility. Responsibility for the death of the person he admired and worshipped the most. The tears would not stop falling; the image of Sonic, a person who he had never seen fall down or give up, a person who he thought was invincible, being reduced to so little, so pitiful a being, already sank into his mind.

Then, another thought hit him.

It was as if, he could hear Robotnik laughing at him now, from Robotropolis, behind the monitors and the sensors that he had invariably been monitoring during the past few minutes. As Tails moved his right arm around, left and right, up and down, extremely freely, he felt as if the very act of being released from control was not the key that unlocked his chains…

Instead, it was more of a curse…

He remembered how much he had wanted for him to regain his own free will, and how much he had wanted for the robot within him to stop. For just one minute, for just one second, he had wanted so much for… Sonic to survive. To hear the sound of a dropped knife, to mutter a word, to twitch or show nervousness, he wanted Sonic to know…, and run away.

But the fact that Robotnik intentionally allowed him that request just seconds after the stabbing really sapped away all his courage and strength. He could have released the grip on the hilt, he could have moved away, he could have run, knelt down, or even cried, as he was crying now.

There was a part of him that still shouted at him; that he could have saved him…

It intensified his sense of guilt greatly; he was free to touch Sonic, talk to him, or even carry his body back to Knothole, but he could not reverse his actions.

His young mind could not grasp the fact or convince himself that it was not his own will that caused this; that it was Robotnik that caused all of this…

Instead, his mind was incredibly shocked and shaken, and was unable to think clearly. He started hearing voices that seemed to come from everywhere as he kneeled down, staring at the ground, with pupils dilated and eyes wide open. It was as if Sonic, Robotnik, and all the other people he knew, were combined into one single entity, vehemently snapping at him and his shortcomings.

"_Useless…"_

"… _He's not ready yet, Sonic."_

"_How could you do such a thing, Tails?"_

Trembling, he kneeled down and covered his ears, closing his eyes tightly. The demons started to haunt him; his soul became fragile and broken, unable to think clearly, or to really know how to handle this situation nicely. Everything was a blur to him; he killed Sonic, he killed Sonic, he killed him. He tried to make tears come out of his eyes, but he was a robot, wasn't he? A robot. An enemy of all things living; an enemy of the freedom fighters; they didn't want him any more. His breathing became more stressful and quick; the body looked for ways to express those powerful emotions of anger and despair, but found little. And when he opened his eyes…

the sight before him dealt the final blow and caused his mind and soul to break into a million pieces.

He saw Sonic, lying on the ground, with blood flowing out of his mouth. His eyes seemed to be red with fury; they reflected the blood in front of him. And this, combined with the painful stare Sonic was shooting at Tails, made him shiver. It added gasoline to the fire within him, causing the barely contained to grow into something absolutely uncontrollable. Images, countless images, of the past five minutes flooded his mind yet again; the lunge, the stab, the electricity; they were as vivid as ever. Tails started to sniffle; he started to stare at Sonic with his eyes dead open, breathing small, frenzied breaths with a huge, heavy feeling in his heart…, at the breaking point…

"_I always… thought… you were my… friend…, Tails"_

A pathetic whisper that drove a spear into his heart yet again for different reasons altogether… Still, it jerked up blood.

It jerked up a scream…

Tails ran away from Sonic's prone body as fast as he could, driven as close to insanity as he ever was. He almost became feral; all he could think about was to run away; from the people he disappointed the people he used to care for, the life he used to enjoy much. Whether this was done in shame, guilt, or for his own tail was unclear to him right now; again, his mind was completely, completely blank.

Into the darkness he went, and he pulled Mobius along with him.


End file.
